by Jon Arensen | Jun 24, 2013 | Jon Arensen
Vacations at the Indian Ocean have been part of the Arensen tradition for many years. When I was a boy my parents would take the family to the coast once a year – usually for 10 days. We used to stay in a run-down self-serve cottage that cost us $5 a day. However, we...
by Christine Nicholls | Jun 24, 2013 | Christine Nicholls
At a lunch attended by Kenyan oldies last week, talk turned to the early settlers in Eldoret. Why were there so many South African Boers there? The first to come were the Van Breda brothers, who built a grass hut on the Uasin Gishu plateau in 1903 and started to grow...
by admin | Jun 20, 2013 | Elaine Barnett
One of my early recollections is when my parents, George (Hap) and Betty Donner gave me a special baby doll named Becky. Becky was the size of a two-to-four-month-old baby. Becky had blue eyes with long eyelashes that closed when I laid her down. Here body was soft...
by admin | Jun 20, 2013 | Elaine Barnett
When my big brother Cal was home from boarding school, my younger sister Marlowe and I enjoyed playing ‘pretend’ in very creative ways. Being quite young when we’d left the USA for Tanganyika, our memories of America were dim at best. I recall wearing hats and...
by Christine Nicholls | May 21, 2013 | Christine Nicholls
I came across a letter written by Mrs Brian Shaw, of Sotik, in the early days of white settlement in Kenya. The hardships the settlers faced were enormous. When Brian Shaw developed acute appendicitis a doctor and nurse had to come from Nakuru, while friends and...
by Christine Nicholls | Apr 25, 2013 | Christine Nicholls
Surely it is time for another showing of the TV series of Elspeth Huxley’s book, The Flame Trees of Thika? Filming took place in Kenya in eighteen weeks before Christmas, 1980, with Hayley Mills playing Tilly, Elspeth’s mother, and Holly Aird as Elspeth. The filming...
by admin | Apr 13, 2013 | Elaine Barnett
I remember vividly anticipating the arrival of a package from America, which was to contain five pairs of shoes for me! In those days in Tanganyika shoes were not readily available and I was growing faster than my parents could keep me in shoes. We were always...
by Christine Nicholls | Mar 21, 2013 | Christine Nicholls
The EAWL, which of course still flourishes in Kenya, was begun in 1917. Above is the College of Arms Grant of Arms in 1974. We had the annual general meeting of the East Africa Women’s League (UK branch) on Tuesday 19 March, at the Victory Services Club in London. The...
by admin | Mar 12, 2013 | Elaine Barnett
One of my most unpleasant experiences as a youngster growing up in Tanganyika Territory was having to swallow terrible tasting medicines for various diseases or illnesses! Having to swallow bitter quinine daily against malaria was bad enough but when worms took up...
by Christine Nicholls | Feb 26, 2013 | Christine Nicholls
I was interested to read in the piece by Michael Aronson in Old Africa of Feb/March 2013 (Only in Africa section) that Michael had met Vladimir Verbi. I have always been interested in this man, a missionary tried for murder. When Canon Peter Bostock was still alive, I...
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